Allowed distance from unit line

Can anyone tell me, is there a minimum distance a lateral wellbore must be from a unit boundary line? Say, in East Texas, Haynesville shale well. (Such as in LA, I think it is generally 330'.

Also, what about South Texas, Eagle Ford shale... same question.

Texas mineral laws are so hard to digest. It seems that I see operators placing laterals with varying distances from unit lines, wondering if there is a 'rule.' Thank you!

Neverbilly, there are rules and they probably vary by state but for every rule there is an exception. In Oklahoma it is 660' between wells and 330' from section lines. Operators frequently file for exceptions and the OCC usually approves.

Neverybilly -

There are some standards, but it is not unusual for the Rules to sometimes vary from field to field.

The following link will take you to the Texas Railroad Commission's Webpage for Fieldwide Rules:

http://webapps.rrc.state.tx.us/DP/initializeFieldSearchAction.do

Fill in the name of the Field the Well is located in and you can pull up the spacing rules for that field.

There can be exceptions, where the company requests permission to get closer to another company's lease line and that sort of thing, but they have to have a Hearing about those. The following link will take you to an article on the subject:

http://www.burlesonllp.com/D6B628/assets/files/Documents/Durrett_Pub-NA.pdf

Hope this helps -

Charles Emery Tooke III

Certified Professional Landman

Fort Worth, Texas